Toy railway



Feb. 5, 1924:, mgmw A. R. FERGUSSON TOY RAILWAY Patented F eb. 5, 1924.

U hi T11 ALAN R. FERGUSSON, F BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

TOY RAILWAY.

Original application filed July 22, 1922, Serial No. 576,656. Patent No. 1,57,771, dated June 5, 1923.

Divided and this application filed April 5, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALAN R. FnRcUssoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toy Railways, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to toy or miniature railways, and is a division of my co-pending application for toy railway Serial No. 576, 656, filed July 22, 1922, which issued in Patent No. 1,457,771, June 5, 1923.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved toy railway structure, which will be strong, durable, and serviceable in use, and yet which, by virture of the present novel structure, may be constructed at a minimum of expense.

A further object of this invention is to provide a sectional toy railway, wherein the ends of the rails of the several sections may be quickly andefiiciently joined and held in alinement in an improved manner, in the present instance this being accomplished by directly joining the ends of the rails so as to form preferably a spring or tension joint, or in other words by tensioning one of the rails so as to join the same to an adjacent rail.

A further object of this invention is to provide a toy railway structure having drawn metal or wire-formed rails, and wherein the ends of the rails of adjacent track sections may be readily andeiliciently joined in an improved manner, such as by means of cooperating overlapping portions forming substantially a spring or tensioned joint.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part ofthis specification, wherein like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in the several views, and wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view partly broken away, illustrating a pair of track sections embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view partly in section illustrating a manner in which the ends of the rails may be joined; Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view illustrating a "somewhat modified form of joint for interlocking the ends of a pair of rails; and Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view illustrating a further form of interlocking joint.

Before explaining in detail the present Serial No. 629,961.

improvement and mode of operation thereof, I desire to have it understood that the in vention is not limited to the details of con struction and arrangement of parts which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments, and that the phraseology which I employ is for the purpose of de scription and not of limitation.

The present invention preferably comprises means for joining or connecting together the juxtaposed ends of a pair of wire formed rails of adjacent sections, this means comprising in general the provision of making projections and recesses at the ends of the juxtaposed rails, which cooperate one with the other through the tensioning of one of the rails, thus forming substantially a tension or spring joint.

As a result of the present construction, the juxtaposed wire rails will be held in alinementor end to end through the medium of the rails themselves, so as to prevent any sidethe spring joint being supplemented if de- A sired, by interlocking connections adapted to effectually prevent the inadvertent pulling apart or separation of the juxtaposed rails. 4

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the track sections .9 and forming part of the complete toy railway system, comprise each suitable metal ti'es 11. Secured to the ties 11 of the track section 9 are a pair of spaced wire-formed rails 12, which may be spot-welded at 13 to the several ties. In like manner the track section 10 comprises a pair of spaced wire-formed rails 14:, preferably spot-welded at 15 to the several metal ties 11. The spaced ends 16 of the rails 14.- are preferably spot-welded at 17 to a suitable metal cross plate 18, and the ends 19 of the wire-formed rails 12 project freely beyond the end cross tie 11*, so as to form free spring ends. The rail ends 16 are cut away or slabbed off to provide recesses or seats 20 and projections 21, and in like manner the free ends 19 of the opposed rails are cut away or slabbed off to provide mating recesses 22 and projections 23.

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It will be noted that the slabbed off face, or in other words the base of each projection 21 or 23 is preferably located at an angle to the vertical and also inclined in the direction of the length thereof, so that in order to join the rail ends 16 and 19, it will be necessary to contract or tension the rail ends 19 to permit the wide wedge-shaped ends of the projections 23 to clear the wide wedgeshaped ends of the projections 21. Thus, it will be seen that a sliding interlockingjoint is provided, in which the ends of the rails of one section spring between the ends of the rails of the adjacent section. The angular character of the mating projections 21 and 23 provides a firm and rigid joint adapted to resist relative sidewise and endwise movement of the rail.

In the construction shown in Fig. 3, it will be seen that the juxtaposed wire-formed rails 24 and 25 are also cut away or slabbed off at the ends thereof to provide recesses 26 and 27 respectively also located at opposite sides of the rail ends, and also to provide oppositely located mating projections 28 and 29 respectively. In this instance the slabbed off faces or bases of the projections 28 and 29 preferably extend in substantially the same plane, and the overlapping rojections 28 and 29 are interlocked in this instance by means of a transverse rib 30 formed on one of the projecting ends 29 and adapted. to extend into a transverse recess 31 formed in the other projecting end 28. In this instance, the general construction of the track sections is substantiallythe. same as hereinbefore described, and it will be seen that in order to join the wire rails 24 and 25 one of the rails, as 24, will be tensioned in order to permit the end thereof to clear the projection 30 so that the latter will spring into the mating recess 31.

In the construction illustrated in Fig. 4, the opposed rails 32 and 33 are also cut away or slabbed 011? to provide mating projections 34 and 35 and corresponding mating recesses 36, the projection 34 of the wire rails 32 overlapping the projection 35 of the wire rail 33. In this instance the rails 32 and 33 are interlocked by means of projections 37 struck up from the clamp plate 38 and adapted to extend into grooves or notches 39 in the rail ends 32. As in the previous con struction described, the wire rails 33 are preferably spot-welded at 39. to the plate 38, the rail ends 32 forming free spring ends adapted to be tensioned to form the interlocking joint with the juxtaposed rails 33.

It is to be understood that by describing in detail herein any particular form, structure, or arrangement, it is not intended to limit the invention beyond the terms of the several claims or the requirements of the prior art.

It will be seen that wire rails 14 are so positioned on plate 18 and secured thereto by welding that the slabbed 01f faces of projections21 will extend downwardly and outwardly, or in other words at an angle to the vertical. The slabbed off faces of projections 23 extend of course in the reverse direction. Thus the mating projections 21 and 23 are not only interlocked against endwise movement and resist pulling apart, but also are locked to prevent either pair of rails from accidentally lifting upward out of interlocking engagement with the other pair of rails.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of rails located end to end, said rails having cooperating overlapping portions adapted when joined to place one of the rails under tension.

2. Ina toy railway, the combination of a pair of rails located end to end, one of said rails having a projection overlapping the other rail and forming means for tensioning one of the rails.

3. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of wire formed rails located end to end, said rails having cooperating overlapping portions forming a tension joint.

4. In a toy railway, the combination of wire formed rails located endto end, said rails having cooperating overlapping portions for joining the ends thereof together.

5. In a toy railway, the combination of wire formed rails located end to end, said rails having cooperating overlapping portions for joining the ends thereof together, and means for lockingsaid rails together.

6. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of cylindrical rails located end to end, said rails having overlapping ends forming a cylinder when overlapped.

7 In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of cylindrical rails located end to end, said rails having overlapping wedge-shaped portions.

8. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of track sections located end to end and each comprising supporting means, and rails carried thereby, one of said rails adapted to overlap under tension a juxaposed rail.

9. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of track sections located end to end and each comprising supporting means, and rails carried thereby, the rails of each section having overlapping portions for joining certain of the juxtaposed rails of the sections under tension.

10. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of track sections located end to end and each comprising supporting means, and wire formed rails carried thereby, the rails of each section having overlapping portions forming a tension joint.

11. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of wire formed rails located end to end, each of said rails havin at its end a slabbed off portion cooperating one with the other.

12. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of wire formed rails located end to end, each of said rails having an inclined portion, said portions cooperating one with the other.

13. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of wire formed rails located end to end, said rails having reversely inclined cooperating projections and recesses.

14:. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of Wire formed rails-located end to end, each of said rails having at its end a slabbed oii portion cooperating one with the other, and means for locking said rails against relative movement.

15. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of wire formed rails located end to end, and means for overlapping and interlocking said rails to form a tensioned joint.

16. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of wire formed rails located end to end, and means for overlapping and interlocking said rails to form a tensioned joint, said means including a projection and a recess, one thereof carried by each rail.

17. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of wire formed rails located end to,

end, and means for overlapping and interlocking said rails to form a tensioned joint, said means comprising a lug and a cooperating recess, one thereof carried by each rail.

Signed at Buffalo, New York, this 28th day of March 1923.

ALAN R. FERGUSSON. 

